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This episode explores real-life police investigations where law enforcement has used the purported abilities of psychics to help solve difficult cases when conventional methods have failed
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00:00He touches an object belonging to a victim of a crime.
00:07He claims that suddenly he is transported beyond time and space.
00:15A crime is reenacted before his eyes.
00:20He says he's reliving a moment in the past,
00:23in a place he's never seen before, with people he does not know.
00:29It has been a trance, but when it ends, psychic Peter Herkos seems to have hard information.
00:43The name of the killer, the manner in which the victim died, and the time of death.
00:49One, two, three. There were actually three people involved. Three people.
00:57He calls himself a psychic detective.
01:01The End
01:27Can ESP be used to fight crime and locate missing persons?
01:31In Search Of explores the potential of the psychic detective.
01:42This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
01:46The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations,
01:50but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
01:55Chief Detective Robert Lowery has been with the Florissant Police Department in St. Louis for 23 years.
02:05For Lowery and detectives like him, the routine of case work follows the long established techniques of following leads,
02:13gathering evidence, and questioning witnesses.
02:16Two years ago, Bob Lowery broke with tradition in his effort to solve a kidnap case.
02:27The manager of a local store was reported missing, and after three weeks of investigation,
02:33Lowery could find no reason for his disappearance and no clues to his whereabouts.
02:38He was persuaded to try a new and strikingly unconventional investigative tool.
02:48We conducted a very extensive investigation.
02:50We exhausted all leads, and it was brought to my attention by a member of the television news media
02:54that we could possibly call in a psychic.
02:56My reaction to it at first, of course, is that I'm a police officer, and police officers deal with fact,
03:01and I wasn't too receptive to this idea, but I agreed to it after the family members indicated their desire.
03:08The results were remarkable.
03:12The psychic accurately pinpointed the location of the victim and led the police to the site.
03:18This information, relayed by psychic means, enabled the police to solve the case.
03:26Extrasensory perception is the power of the mind to reach across time and space in a way that seems impossible.
03:41To know a thought when it has not been spoken.
03:44To see an event that has happened in a distant place.
03:47Scientists acknowledge that it exists, but don't understand how it works.
03:52Some believe it can be harnessed for practical use.
03:55And one way may be in the fight against crime.
04:01There are psychic detectives all over the country.
04:04The most well-known is Peter Herkos, based in Los Angeles.
04:13Herkos first visits the scene of a crime to get what he calls psychic impressions.
04:19He handles personal possessions in an attempt to identify with the victim.
04:32Pictures of the crime take shape in his mind.
04:35To date, he has worked on over 800 criminal cases.
04:40In Chicago, psychic Irene Hughes has received commendations from police for her efforts in helping them solve no less than 15 murder cases.
04:53In St. Louis, Bevy Yeagers is earning a reputation as a psychic detective.
04:58Okay, we're going to be working on the Franczak case again tonight.
05:02And there are a couple of you here who haven't really done too much on this.
05:05I'm going to try to fill you in just a little bit.
05:08We have gotten into this case May the 25th, I think is the day that we were called in on it.
05:14And we were working on it.
05:16Bevy is a housewife and mother of six.
05:18Her attitude about ESP is unique in that she believes everybody has the potential for it.
05:24The astrology department seems to feel that there was a plot involving...
05:28Six years ago, she founded a psychic rescue squad for the purpose of locating missing persons.
05:34Members of the squad hold down normal 9 to 5 jobs and meet in the evenings for case work.
05:41They have proved themselves so effective that they have qualified as licensed private detectives.
05:47A private detective agency is in itself kind of mysterious to the public, I suppose.
05:55And a private detective agency composed of psychics would be doubly so or more.
06:00We've had quite a job to do, as a matter of fact, in getting people to understand that we're not a bunch of mysterious kooks running around in robes,
06:08calling down forces from the planet Mars to solve cases.
06:12At this particular time, there are about 18 of us in the metropolitan St. Louis area.
06:17And there are approximately 25 more around the country who have been trained by me.
06:23Each member of the squad brings his own specialty to the art of solving crime.
06:29People like Phyllis Deggendorf, a graduate student of nearby George Washington University.
06:35She claims that by meditating, she can relive the moment of the crime.
06:40I tune in very quickly to pain.
06:44I start getting feelings whenever I'm holding an object.
06:48Then it will develop into mental pictures.
06:52I still don't pick up death.
06:55Lillian, does the chart say death to you?
06:59It says death. I just don't.
07:02Betty, did they ever find out what cult or what semi-religious Indian group was associated with this case?
07:12Judith Krauss uses a technique called psychometry.
07:17Okay, I started. It's on a true turn.
07:19A housewife and mother, she claims that by holding an object belonging to the victim, she can identify with his experience.
07:29I learned to note down all my feelings that I get when I am holding something that belonged to a victim.
07:37Because a lot of times, those will be a clue.
07:41They feel it may be even...
07:43Judith and her husband, Bob, have been members of the squad for two years.
07:47This kind of thing, the national star is looking into that and they're going to let us know, yes.
07:52Bob Krauss feels his unique skill is the ability to pinpoint the location of a crime.
07:58Bob is a music teacher at a local high school.
08:11He says that he has learned how to overcome the barriers of time and space
08:16and actually project himself to the scene of a crime.
08:21I feel, if any, that my forte would be in visualizing an area where something might have taken place.
08:31She would like to start with the map.
08:33Jim Mueller, how about you?
08:35Okay.
08:36That's the Acapulco area.
08:37Jim Mueller was the first to join Bevy Yeager.
08:41His special aptitude is locating kidnap victims.
08:44During the day, Jim is a social worker for the city of St. Louis.
08:49A psychic will sometimes, in addition to having mental impressions,
08:53may have body feelings of pain or distress that could reflect symptoms of the injured person.
09:01Is anyone aware yet of any particular wounds or abrasions or anything on the body or where they're located?
09:09Almost any police force will tell you when they can't come up with the answer,
09:13they don't mind where the answer comes from.
09:15And if it comes from us, fine.
09:17We are at least a licensed, reputable group of people.
09:20We're not just, you know, some odd kook out on the street.
09:23Trying to pick up purely from the picture of the woman herself.
09:27Eighteen specialists.
09:31Each uses a unique psychic skill to unravel a crime.
09:35At present, the squad is concentrating on the case of a travel agent who disappeared while vacationing in Mexico.
09:47And then they told us that they thought they had...
09:50Bevy envisions that in the near future, psychics will work with law enforcement on a broad and practical scale.
09:56Her dream may not be so far-fetched.
09:59In only a few short years, Bevy herself has emerged from obscurity to become a detective with a solid reputation.
10:07It all began in 1971.
10:11Bevy's work in crime detection was triggered by the baffling case of a missing housewife.
10:16I think we ought to get down there if we can.
10:19Well, let's go.
10:21Fine.
10:22Let's go.
10:24Bevy would take up the search with her psychic sensitivity.
10:39In 1971, the St. Louis police were baffled by the case of a missing woman named Sally Lucas.
10:46Known by her friends as a loving wife and devoted mother, she vanished from her comfortable suburban home without a trace.
10:53Every year, close to 80,000 people disappear, seemingly without motive.
10:59Sally Lucas was a classic example.
11:05Mrs. Lucas had last been seen leaving the town and country shopping center with an armful of packages.
11:14Detectives spent frustrating hours piecing together her last day.
11:18They suspected foul play.
11:23Police had scoured St. Louis but could find no clues to her whereabouts.
11:28Three weeks from the day that Sally Lucas disappeared, Bevy Yeagers contacted the St. Louis Globe Democrat, one of the city's leading newspapers.
11:38She had a hunch.
11:40Bill Fustel, the city editor, remembers her call well.
11:46Bill Fustel, the city editor, remembers her call well.
11:47Bill Fustel, the city editor, remembers her call well.
11:49So, police were at a dead end.
11:50There have been no evidence turned up.
11:52I'm not sure psychics are always accurate, but I do think that there is something to this.
11:57something to this. She touched some garments and a powder puff of the missing woman. And she said
12:08at that time that she described the woman whom she did not previously know. She described her
12:12fairly accurately, short hair, short of stature, didn't smoke much. And she said she got a picture
12:20of some policeman bending over the car near a large body of water. The next day her car was
12:26Mrs. Lucas' car was found on the Gulf of Mexico. I called Lieutenant Kiriakis and I said I want to
12:35do something unusual if we can do it. And he said what? And I said I want to bring the psychic out
12:40and let her sit in this car and see what kind of impressions she obtains. Lieutenant Kiriakis has
12:46been with the St. Louis police for 18 years. The veteran detective was taken aback that Fustel
12:54wanted to bring a psychic into the case. Well my real feeling was that he's got to be kidding or
12:59he's putting me on just a little bit. I really didn't think he was honestly serious at the time
13:06but he was. But Mrs. Yeager asked if she could sit in the car. I kind of sat back and I thought boy this
13:12is really going to be something else. I'll be surprised if anything comes out of this. Psychics
13:18claimed to be able to receive vivid impressions through the sense of touch. Sitting behind the
13:24wheel of the Lucas car, as Bevy demonstrated for us, a whole series of visual images flooded through
13:30her mind. She appeared to be lost in a deep trance. She sat in the car with a pad and a pen for about
13:3810 minutes. And she wrote down many things on that on that paper. And at one point about six minutes into
13:44the time she was in the car, she she got a terrible look of agony on her face of pain. She began to sweat
13:52very heavily. The car gave off strong psychic vibrations. At first, the disconnected pictures that
14:02Bevy said flashed through her mind made no sense at all. My notes were full of letter C's and things like that.
14:11Horses' heads.
14:14There was also a small bridge, not a large bridge. And there was some pillar type mailboxes, the kind you find out in the
14:24country. I was leaning forward to either put the key in the lock or pull it out of. And as I did that, I was
14:36struck a very, very severe blow on the right side of the head. When I was out of the car, they handed me her car
14:44keys. And at that time, it broke me up completely. I couldn't go on with it at all, because I then realized
14:51from holding her keys that she had not been dead when she was taken out of the car and flung into
14:56the ditch, she was still alive.
14:59I think one of her first comments was that she felt an intense pain to the right side of her head.
15:06And then the other impression was water and a bridge and an airport. And then one of the last impressions
15:17was that of a horse or something to do with a horse.
15:24The clarity of Bevy's vision compelled her to personally take up the search.
15:30She reasoned that the best place to begin was the locale that most closely matched her psychic
15:36impressions. Bevy began to search the 10-square-mile area of Babler State Park, just northwest of St.
15:49Louis. She was accompanied by her husband Ray and psychic student Jim Mueller.
15:54At first, the idea of penetrating such a vast and wild tract of land seemed hopeless.
16:04Hey, Ray. Hey, Jim. Come here a minute. I feel some kind of pull out in that direction. Not
16:20right here, but like way over. Down there. Can we get there from here?
16:25Yes, yes. Roundabout, but we can get there. Well, okay. Well, I think that's right. Let's go.
16:31Yeah, let's go.
16:33An inexplicable force inside Bevy's body seemed to pull her in a definite direction.
16:40She had no idea what she would discover in the thick underbrush of Babler State Park.
16:46As Bevy, Ray, and Jim followed the psychic trail, they began to notice significant clues that corroborated
16:54the mental images Bevy had received in Sally Lucas' car.
17:04A small airport called the Spirit of St. Louis was less than two miles away.
17:08The Babler riding stables.
17:18Then the road sign, Wild Horse Creek, intersecting Highway C.
17:25Could this have been the sea that kept appearing in Bevy's notes?
17:31A row of pillar mailboxes confirmed that she was heading in the right direction.
17:36And then, the final clue.
17:41One that came chillingly close to her psychic vision.
17:46Now there's a bridge up ahead.
17:49Maybe that's the place we ought to stop.
17:51The creek looks like it's crossing the road.
17:54Just fall on past the bridge. Maybe we ought to look this place over here.
17:57My notes were full of letter C's and things like that.
18:03Harses' heads.
18:04There was also a small bridge.
18:07And there was some pillar-type mailboxes, the kind you find out in the country.
18:11So finally, we stopped the car and we got out.
18:22And we decided that this area looked so right, we might as well just look a little closer.
18:26The terrain just looked right.
18:42It felt right.
18:42We started to tramp around a little bit.
18:52I can't explain that exactly, but there was a feeling in the body somewhere that there was something.
18:59And it was not far.
19:00It was almost as if my body was a magnetic needle and it was seeking, it was honing in on a certain direction.
19:09The date was September 4th, 1971.
19:35They searched until the light became too dim to see any longer.
19:42Bevy was sure she was within a hair's breadth of finding the body and planned to return to the site the next morning.
19:49But the following day, a torrential rainstorm hit St. Louis and prevented Bevy from continuing her search.
19:58Two days later, Mrs. Luca's body was washed out of a gully in Wild Horse Creek.
20:03The body was less than 150 feet from where Bevy Yeagers had been searching.
20:14Well, it was all about a day or two after we had found the body and had processed the scene and everything like that.
20:20And it came to me right then.
20:22I said, my God, everything she told us on that day in the car before we found Mrs. Lucas came true.
20:29The horse, which was Wild Horse Creek Road, the airport, which is close by, the water and the bridge.
20:35And also, on the right side of her head, the skull was crushed.
20:40And these were not things she could have known anyway.
20:44I have no way of accounting for it in anything, any way.
20:49It was just a total mystery to me how she could be that accurate.
20:53What inexplicable force was it that compelled Bevy to search the ravines of Wild Horse Creek?
21:00Sandy Fronczak is an American girl from our city who was with a group of travel agents going down to Acapulco.
21:17Bevy and the Psychic Rescue Squad are continuing their casework on a national level.
21:23They feel they are moving closer to solving the case of the missing travel agent.
21:27Yes, in their search of the beach that they feel is Sandy's,
21:32but it hasn't been 100% identified by her roommate as having been what she had on when she left.
21:38It is not inconceivable that the role of the psychic detective could have major consequences for law enforcement in the United States.
21:46If the technique of using ESP to pinpoint crime and ferret out criminals can be developed on a broad and practical scale,
21:53it may become a deterrent to anyone contemplating a criminal act.
21:58This, it seems, may not be beyond the power of the mind.
22:02So, let's have a look at the point.
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